A full and eventful life: Longtime Princeton resident Lynn Cox Scheffey, dies at 94

Caroline “Lynn” Cox Scheffey died peacefully on Thursday morning, Jan. 9, at Stonebridge at Montgomery in Skillman, where she had lived for eight years. She was 94.

She will be missed by her devoted family and friends, as well as by former professional colleagues and friends among the community of advocates for women’s rights and social justice.

Born on July 29, 1930, in Scarsdale, New York, Lynn was the daughter of Howard Lee Cox Sr. of Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, and Caroline Benham Cox of Columbus, Ohio. The family soon moved to a 71-acre farm on North Mill Road in Princeton Junction that is now the site of the West Windsor Community Park. She grew up there with her beloved older brother, Howard Lee Cox Jr., a graduate of Princeton University and a World War II veteran, who predeceased her in 1959.

Lynn and Lee had countless “stepsiblings” in the form of the first “real” Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls, which were produced by their father to promote the celebrated series of children’s books authored and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle. The 23 Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy books were eventually published by the Johnny Gruelle Co., founded by Lynn’s father in partnership with the Gruelle family after the original publisher folded. Lynn treasured her collection of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy books and original dolls, as well as fond memories of her father’s work with the company.

As a child, Lynn contracted polio, but showing the grit and curiosity that stayed with her throughout her life, she survived and excelled in school. She skipped two grades and graduated from Princeton High School in 1947 at age 16. Later that fall, following her 17th birthday, she entered Bryn Mawr College.

At Bryn Mawr, Lynn majored in biology, but in her junior year, romance eclipsed academics, and she interrupted her studies to marry Lewis C. “Lew” Scheffey Jr. As Lew developed his career, Lynn had and cared for three sons as the family moved many times, most notably to Santiago, Chile, where Lynn became fluent in Spanish.

When the family returned to the United States, they settled in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Despite having three young sons, Lynn was determined to further her studies. She completed four semesters of immersive art history study at the Barnes Foundation, followed by coursework at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her bachelor’s degree in the history of art in 1963.

Throughout her life, Lynn was continually engaged in civic and political activity. Notable among her accomplishments was “Happy Returns for UNICEF,” a project she created in 1969 as chair of the International Currency Development Program for UNICEF in Philadelphia. She designed the project to raise funds for the U.N. International Children’s Emergency Fund by collecting donations of unused foreign currency from returning international air travelers using secure, prepaid mailing envelopes designed by eminent graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff. Lynn secured Pan Am as the exclusive airline partner for the UNICEF project, as well as the endorsement and participation of then-U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. The project, which garnered nationwide media attention, was a notable success.

In the late 1960s, Lynn’s commitment to social justice drew her to feminist advocacy. She was an original leader of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus. In 1972, Gov. Milton J. Shapp appointed her co-chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on the Status of Women. She served with co-chair Alma Speed Fox, a civil rights activist from Pittsburgh. The commission was founded to implement the provisions of the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment, adopted in 1971. Under Lynn’s leadership, the third annual conference of the Interstate Association of Commissions on the Status of Women was convened in Philadelphia in 1973.

During the 1970s, Lynn directed and created a series of community-based educational, scientific, and social service programs. She served as acting deputy director of the World Order Research Institute at Villanova University, as a consultant for special projects at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia, and as coordinator of a health education program at Philadelphia’s Lankenau Hospital that provided curriculum guidance to school districts across the state.

In the early 1980s, following a longstanding interest in entrepreneurship, Lynn enrolled in the MBA program at Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia. She received her MBA in 1984.

Lynn used her business skills and creativity to originate, initially in conjunction with her son Thomas, a series of imaginative real estate development projects focused on historic properties in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia. For decades, she was the sole owner and manager of several successful real estate projects, including a complex of 16 residential rental condominiums.

Throughout her life, Lynn was an energetic supporter of progressive issues and a dedicated volunteer in national, regional, and local Democratic political campaigns. She was a member of Princeton Friends Meeting and Haverford Friends Meeting.

Lynn enjoyed worldwide travel, food and wine, advanced learning programs, and study in art history, science, political studies, and social research. She celebrated a lifetime of long friendships while always cultivating new connections and learning adventures. She will be fondly remembered for her tenacity, wit, and beautiful spirit.

Lynn was predeceased by Lew Scheffey, from whom she was divorced in 1977. She is survived by her three sons, Thomas Benham (Melissa) of Ewing; Stephen Thun of Boulder, Colorado; and Daniel Cox of New York City; four grandchildren, Nathan (Caroline), Aubrey (Christopher), Adrienne (Vikrama), and Leigh (Rafael); and three great-grandchildren, Maxwell, Penelope, and Bela.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, May 17 at 11 a.m., in the Meetinghouse at Princeton Friends Meeting in Princeton, with a reception immediately following in the Meeting’s Friendship Room. Interment in the Cox Family lot at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, Pa., will take place with family members at a later date. In Lynn’s memory, donations can be made to Princeton Friends Meeting.